Transcripts
1. Develop a Winning Business Case Introduction: Building a winning business case is just about the first step you can take to get approval of your proposal. However, getting stakeholders to buy into your business case might be challenging. This course highlights what is needed to ensure you prepare an effective business case that gets approved. My name is Lisa climbing and I am founder and public speaking coach at speak tilapia and author of the book, you got this. Everything you need to master authentic public speaking. And I am very excited to offer this valuable course to help you achieve. In this course that guide to building the business case. Do you will learn the key steps involved in being able to do just that. You will learn how to get started, what things to research, how to identify and select your various options and opportunities. How to align the case with your goals, and how to communicate your case easily and effectively to your targeted audience and get approval for your proposal. You don't need a background in business or finance to get started in this course. It walks you through the various steps. The course can help anyone, no matter the job or industry. It provides you the fundamental tools to create a business for any situation. So dive in and get started right away on developing your successful business case.
2. What is a Business Case?: This course takes you through the steps needed to build a strong business case. You will learn to define the opportunity you want to pursue and the options for seizing not opportunity. You will learn about gathering data on your options and estimating timeframes for completing them, and then analyzing and assessing the data collected to compare the options. You will also learn how to craft a plan for implementing your chosen course of action and communicating your case effectively to stake holders. The business case justified undertaking a project or program. It evaluates the cost and risk of options and provides the rationale or the preferred solution. A business case is a written or verbal value proposition that is intended to educate a decision-maker and convinced them to take some kind of action. When written, the document itself is sometimes referred to as a business case. At its simplest, a business case could be a spoken suggestion, a short-term action leading to immediate, measurable and substantial benefits. For example, if a gym manager, customers rarely used the facility after 10 o'clock PM, presenting that back to the owner may be compelling enough to make a business case to close the gym at ten o'clock pm rather than stay open until midnight, for example. For more complex issues, a business case should be presented in a carefully constructed document that provides the audience with information about the risks and rewards involved in taking action and conversely, not taking action. A well-crafted business case explores all feasible approaches to a problem, so responsible parties can select which option serves the organization. Best. Case justifies a proposed business change of plan. It outlines the allocation of capital and the resources required to implement. And then it can be an action plan. It may also just serve as a unified vision, providing the decision-makers with different options. The business case is a logical argument to spend money and resources and create a compelling reason to act. For example, is it worth it to spend this amount to achieve this result? The business case may be needed for approval of any new project and program to demonstrate the value of the work in the concept phase. An outline or summary brief of a business case may be prepared for senior management to assess whether to get the go ahead. A detail business case may then pursuit paired during the latter phase.
3. Why a Business Case?: Why use a business case? Consider this scenario. Perhaps you've been managing a product and you concluded that acquiring some new software would help your company cut costs, increase efficiencies. Or maybe you want to hire several new employees to buy a new piece of equipment for your group. You have presented your proposal to your boss who responds that you will need to make the business case before it can be considered. You are happy to oblige, but not sure what precisely a business case consists of or how to go about creating one. Maybe you are familiar with the business plan, but not a business case. Your first step in building the case for your great idea is to understand the difference. It business case answers the question, what happens if we take this course of action? For example, if your department is considering expanding sales to a new market, then your boss might ask which market options should be invested in to create the most value? Or should we even make this as an investment? A business plan, on the other hand, describes how an organization or business unit intends to navigate successfully through its own unique competitive environment. Business plans focus on long-range revenues and expenses, business strategies and other information. Typically, managers and executives use business plans to secure financing from investors and to plan business strategies. So when do you create a business case? The process of building a business case is similar to solving the problem. For example, suppose you don't have enough back to accomplish your responsibilities. Or you believe that your company's competitors use more efficient processes that allow them to have lower costs than your company or organization does. Developing a business case will not only help you identify potential solutions to such problems, but also help you sell your ideas to decision-makers. If business case is useful when you want to, for example, demonstrate the value of a proposed product or service that would benefit your organization. This course describes the process of defining the opportunity, identifying the options, gathering the necessary information, analyzing those options, and preparing to sell your ideas. You will need to complete each of these steps to build a strong business case, which will be described in more detail throughout this course. The process works and the depth of analysis and extensive documentation necessary to support your case will likely vary depending on the cost and organizational impacts in the risk.
4. Include These Business Case Components: Whether you're starting a new project or half of the way through one, take time to write up a business case to justify the project investment and time capital and expenditures. A strong business case will clearly show how the project benefits the organization and any stake holders. In preparing your case. Consider these main steps to put it together. One, identify the business problem. A business case doesn't serve any purpose if the problem is not known. This may seem obvious, but it's important to understand what the problem is to solve it. Sometimes it may take some research to identify the problem. For example, let's say that the company wants to expand or increase sales of existing products and services. You know the need, but do you know what the problem is to fix? Really look at what's out there, find out what the needs are and where they are in the market. Consider any gaps that you can serve. And also take a look at the competition. Consider how they are approaching it, and how maybe you could provide some other alternatives. The next is to identify alternative or possible solutions. Where I persuasive arguments, stakeholders will want to understand options. So it's important to compare and assess different approaches to select the best ones and then recommend a solution. After you have compiled your data and selected the best option, you will need to recommend the best solution. And the argument should be compelling with strong data and sources that back it up and then describe the implementation plan. Part of the case includes a description of how the case will be carried out. It should address steps including implementation costs, timeline, and schedule of events. And then you've documented and finally presented. Each of these steps are described in more detail in this course. Now, comment sections of a business case. And each of these different components can or may not be included at really depends on the complexity and size of the case, and also the length of them also depends on that as well. So the first one would be the purpose. And the business case typically begins with a statement of purpose. It can be stated simply such as the purpose of this proposal is to request authorization and funding to study X. And then next is the summary or what's more formally called the executive summary. This section concisely summarizes in plain language each section of the case or proposal which can include the problem, possible solutions, desired outcome methods, schedule, budget, resources, anticipated return on investment or ROI, and qualifications. And this section is typically written last after the components have been known and described. Next would be the problem statement. This section clearly describes what issue needs to be addressed. It should be specific and brief of around one to two sentences. Also included is the situation analysis. This section provides more context explaining the problem or opportunity in the background of the project or program, and how it came about and why it is needed, and what would happen if no action was taken. This section typically can be one of the larger sections of the report because it provides that background information needed to help justify the what the problem is and the proposed solution. Now in advance, organizer at the end of this section, is recommended to be included. And advanced organizer tells the reader what will follow in the proposal, for example, might be written as or stated as. The following sections of this proposal include the methods, schedule, qualifications, proposed budget, and so on. And then the next component could be the options. So this section, the writer describes the options considered and chosen to solve the problem. The do nothing option can also be included. And then is the cost-benefit analysis. This section evaluates the costs and benefits for each potential option, including the proposed solution to the problem and any likely alternatives including taking no action at all. The next component is the schedule, methodology and budget section. This describes how the recommended solution will be carried out. It includes a timeline or schedule of steps needed to implement the project. It also includes information about the budget and costs required, including resources, personnel, and administrative costs. Each of these sections might be lumped into one category or presented as separate sections in the report depending on the depth of the information described. The next component is credentials or qualifications. So you would describe the qualifications of you, the organization, or anyone else applicable to the project. It should specify how the personal organization is qualified to complete the task, describe In the case. Now this can also include education as well as experience. And then finally would be the recommendation. So in this section the writer makes him a recommendation for how to address the issue described in the problem statement. So each of these things are described and available to you as a PDF document. In this lecture, you can just simply click and accept that access out so you don't need to take any descriptive or detailed notes as you're listening through this. The next is the key pole points in the business case. And in this, you communicate these points in your business case to help your audience understand the problem, proposed solution, and value and benefit of the project. It's pretty important to include these because these points clearly described can help strengthen the argument and also, of course, aid in understanding. So the first one is strategic fit. And in this one, you would address business seed and its contribution to the organization's business strategy. Key benefits to be realized, critical success factors and how they will be measured. Next would be options and evaluations, identifications. So here the cost-benefit analysis of realistic options for meeting the business need. Statement of possible soft benefits that cannot be quantified in financial terms, and then identify preferred option and any trade-offs. Next is the procurement and implementation. And here would be proposed sourcing options with reasons, key features of proposed commercial arrangements as applicable. And then they procurement approach strategy with supporting details. And then next is the plan for achievement. So here would be the plan for achieving the desired outcome with key milestones, independency, contingency plans, risks identified and mitigation plans, external supplier plans, resources skilled and experienced required as needed. Also, you might want to include the costs involved. So that might be the whole life costs or entire cost involved in carrying out the proposed plan in case. This section or these details are also provided for you as a PDF document in this lecture. A thorough and clear persuasive business case well targeted to the audience, will more likely get approve. The next lessons, we'll describe the steps needed to create the case.
5. Step 1: Identify the Need: The first step in building a business case is to make sure you consider all key parameters of the case. This is done by 1, defining the business challenge that needs solving to identifying the problem or opportunity. 3, identifying the stakeholders involved, including their preliminary support for the concept for forming a task force if applicable. Five, identifying the business issues impacting business. N6, Find the high level business requirements when these things are known. The next step is to identify your business objectives in pursuing the opportunity and prioritize your objectives and assign metrics to them. We will take a look at each of these tasks more closely. But let's discuss the problem or opportunity. Whether the idea comes from you, your boss or someone else, you will need to a solid understanding of the issue. Know about these things. Projects are initiated to solve a specific business problem or create a business opportunity. The clear what the problem or opportunity is and be able to describe it. Consider the time frame involved in managing it. You may need to research and learn more to understand factors including costs and sources involved to justify the timing of the project. Consider these questions to understand what the problem and opportunity is. Are we doing the right thing? Are we doing right way? Are we getting them done well? And are we getting the benefits? After identifying the problem or opportunity? Develop a statement that describes the benefits from solving the problem for seizing the opportunity and answer the question, how will my group, unit or company benefit from spending resources to address this issue? A strong opportunity statement could be, for example, the Training and Development Group will increase revenue at XYZ company by enabling the sales group to move from a product selling to a solution selling approach. When drafting your statement and address the situation as an opportunity rather than a problem. Avoid the common mistake of defining the opportunity by describing the preferred solutions such as, I need two more headcount, just support the new sales strategy. This statement is too limited and does not consider alternative solutions. After you have written your opportunity statement, identify relevant business objectives of the opportunity. Beyond the obvious financial gains such as cost savings or increased sales. Consider how taking advantage of the opportunity helps the company to reach important goals. Examine key business metrics that the company tracks and report, which could be employee morale, customer morale, environmental responsibility, revenues, costs, and so on. The company's key objectives might be difficult to measure in dollar or whatever currency terms such as improved employee satisfaction. But still consider them and list all the key objectives that might be relevant for the project. Next, prioritize these objectives, choosing just a few, maybe three or four to analyze. In narrowing your list, consider the support needed to implement your ideas and who could be affected if your ideas were put into action. Consider how these stakeholders tend to make decisions and what business results are important to them. Consider also which ones are priorities for your organization. It's high level staff. Let's say the Vice President. President of finance, for example, might be most concerned with cost reduction, revenue increase, or propability in improvement. The VP of sales might be particularly concerned with customer satisfaction and revenue growth. And then the VP of HR or human resources might care most about employee satisfaction, which drives turnover of sale staffed. So you can see three different people, different roles and how their emphasis would be different and what would be more or most important to them after assessing these preferences. So the following objectives could then be increase profitability and revenues, improved customer satisfaction, and reduce employee turnover. Know who your key stakeholders are and what they value. What's most important to them to help define the objectives of your case. Do Benefits analysis, addressing questions such as, how can we measure it? Sales reports, customer surveys, performance metrics, and so on, are ways to measure results. Ask yourself, how can we quantify it? Are you able to track units in dollar or other currencies cells? And then finally, is there a financial value? What is the ROI or return on investment? What is the expected output reload relative to income and savings? The next step is to identify metrics for each of these objectives you have defined. You will use these metrics to measure the impact of each course of action on your chosen objectives. Here is an example of business objectives to metrics. One, increased profitability in revenues. It is important to measure the impact of alternative proposals on the metric sales revenue per person to improved customer satisfaction. This might be done by using an existing system that includes customer satisfaction as a metric. Asking for example, the sales and marketing departments, if they use metrics, such as customer retention, on the assumption that the more satisfied customers are, the more likely they are to keep doing business. In the last one is reduced employee turnover. Asking colleagues, for example, in HR, to provide data from the annual employee satisfaction survey as well as information about employee turnover. If existing metrics work, keep in mind, there is no need to create new ones. In the next lesson, we will address option considerations that support your case.
6. Step 2: Determine Options that Support Your Case: Now that you have identified the opportunity you want to pursue, you will need to identify options and then seize the opportunity. This step comprises these tasks. Generate a list of options and gather input from stakeholders. Narrow your choices down to especially promising ones. Let's examine each of these in more detail in this session. When building a business case, brainstorm your options, rather than limiting to just one or two ideas that occur to you. Consider these pitfalls that prevent you from developing a comprehensive list of options. First, don't restrict the list of choices to the first solutions that you consider. Second, don't limit your mindset, such as believing that something should always be done this way or always be done that way. Third, avoid having a strong preference for a particular solution, especially at the beginning, which might prevent you from exploring other additional possibilities. Forth. Don't discount the current condition as an alternative. Often people will look for ideas outside of the box which may be certainly viable. But don't forget to assess what's going on at the moment, because there might be some great alternatives that really apply in the noun. To avoid these tracks, it might be helpful to get together a group of people or key stakeholders and just ask them to brainstorm ideas with you. They should be people who would be affected by the outcome of your proposal. It could be inside or outside of the organization. Make sure that those brainstorming ideas can be freely shared and not judged or discouraged. They should include potential pros and cons of each one of them. I recommend that you keep track of the brainstorming ideas to refer to later. Keep in mind that your goal is to generate as many feasible options as possible. When considering the various alternatives, gather as much information and input as you can that's applicable to your business case. Use the worksheet, worksheet that is included with this lesson to follow along and to use as a guide when developing your case. Identify who those key stakeholders and decision-makers are in the process. Think about who would be affected by the idea and who controls the resources that you'll need to implement your idea. And then also think about how you would communicate your plan and ideas and how people might respond to your idea. All of these things that we are going to address here may seem expansive and maybe too much, but it's important to consider all various factors affecting the result of your business case. You might want to arrange an informal meeting, maybe with those key people and ask their advice on ideas that you have explored in your business case. Your goal in these meetings is not to present the case, but just to discuss it. Before meeting with these people, anticipate their concerns and be prepared to answer their questions. And then during the meetings, tried to identify any opportunities and issues that are most important. Think about or ask what they care about most and how they would benefit from your idea. Have them identify any issues and gaps that they are aware of. It's better to get input on your plans and shortcomings noun, then have them pointed out later in the process. Incorporate any feedback into your case. So the discussions that you have with these people can bring to the surface information that you can use to improve your proposal and helped to secure approval. Let's say that you may learn which business objectives mars most important. And then you might evaluate your options against these objectives. You can also learn other information that is critical for your case. Also, think about asking input from people that you trust and that could be key advisors as you build your case. Show your work or at least your preliminary work to these people. And that may include any mentors, people that you really look up to and respect. They may be able to identify any issues or holes on your case that you were not aware of. You can also collect any benchmarks on other organizations. As you build your case, do some research to consider other organizations that may have focused on the same opportunity. Find out what they have done, how they've done it, and how they have implemented a solution. Because you may be able to apply what they have done to your own business. There is no need to reinvent anything that can apply, equally applicable, and directly apply to you in your case. The last thing is to create multiple delivery formats for your case. And we'll talk about this more later in this course about communication. But when you are ready to sell your recommendation, you'll want to have different versions of your case for different people. You'll need to know how to best target those people. That can include different formats that you communicate, which could be one-on-one in person, in a slide format, video presentation, formal presentation, or maybe even on a Zoom chat or whatever it is. Know who those people are and what might be the best means of communicating with them. So again, we'll talk about these specific things and how to communicate your, your case effectively later in this course. After you have gathered and received input from the key people that you've talked to, then it's time to narrow your list of options down to two or three. This will best address your business objectives as well as those key stakeholder needs. Consider how they might reasonably be implemented together. Consider how they really relate to each other. As you think about combining any of your choices down together, combining your alternatives, how can they really relate to each other? How could they be implemented? Then eliminate those alternatives are simply too risky, which might be high-risk options. That said, don't eliminate them if they are the best options now. But by eliminating the risk, they may be less risky but better alternatives to pursue. And the last thing is to favor the easy to implement solution over the complex and difficult. That does not mean that that complex and difficult would be the best option. Consider which of the choices seem most feasible and are likely to meet your objective. And sometimes your gut intuition can play a role as well. At this stage, you will likely want to depend more on your hunches and professional judgment than a careful analysis of each alternative. Of course, don't just close your eyes and point your finger at one and say that this is the one. Consider the options and eliminate those that are too risky, Those that are too detailed and required too much time, or are too complex. And from there then you can say or think out loud or write it down and which one seems based on your knowledge and experience and input from others, the ones that likely will be the best alternative to pursue.
7. Step 3: Research Options: At this point, you have identified alternatives or pursuing your opportunity. In step three, we will take a look at gathering the information that you need in order to adequately and thoroughly assessed each of those alternatives. I recommend starting by listing all the information you'll need to compare your choices. Review the metrics you've chosen for each of your business objectives, and ask yourself what data you will need to gather for each metric. Here are some ideas of the type of data that you may need. The first is sales revenue. Now this can be number of dollars or whatever the currency is in sales per person that would generate for each of the alternative. Another area are the costs involved? Now these could be a lot of, related to a lot of things. But think about what are those individual or unique costs for each of the alternative. And this could be a onetime or any kind of ongoing costs. Another area is customer satisfaction. So take a look at any historical information that might be available about the customer satisfaction. So dig in. What were the metrics you use in archea to evaluate that? And over what time frame was it a onetime customer satisfaction gathering information or is there data available to show any kind of trends over time, maybe it's over months, years, etc. Another thing could be in repeat sales. So this can be a valuable or beneficial key information. This is information on repeat sales typically generated by retaining customers. But then also take a look at estimates of how many customers would be retained given each of the alternatives that you are considering. Now employee satisfaction, that might be also key information needed. Again, take a look at any historical data that's available by your organization. Often this is kept by human resources, but you'll want to find that out. You might want to take a look at any estimates as well about employees, how employee satisfaction might change given each of the alternatives. Another area to consider is employee turnover. So are there any historical turnover rates and estimates of how each of those alternatives might affect turnover. Now you might want to also take a look at the costs involved with of employee turnover. For example, what are the cost in hiring and training new employees? These are just suggestions though certainly you will want to know what are those key information or key areas that you will need to take a look at in order to provide a thorough and adequate assessment of the alternatives. Other costs that might be worth taking a look at can be the cost of training or the cost of employees or people involved in fulfilling the task needed for achieving the objectives of the business case. So that could be consulting what our consultant costs maybe you've worked with or your company has information about consultants that has. Been hired for previous, especially for any projects that might be related to the alternatives that you are considering. That includes contractors. So what are those costs involved? And then maybe what might be the cost of hiring contractors and turning them into employees. The other thing is status quo. So what might be the cost involved in hiring existing employees for working or achieving the tasks involved in the alternative. Now in collecting data, it can be a time-consuming process, but it does not necessarily have to be overwhelming. So here are some suggestions of where and how you can gather data for what you need. Keep in mind that most likely you won't be able to get it all in one place. Yes, The Internet is a plus, has a plethora of information available, but it may not be the only place that you should go in order to get the information that you need. So take a look at this. The first one is internal. Lot of companies already have a lot of data information. Or they keep track of information that may be key to the alternatives that you are considering. So perhaps you might want to reach out to HR or human resources where you can get information especially on employees, employee expensive new expenses, new hiring, the types employees that had been hired. Even employees or job positions that are open for potential new employees might want to reach out to finance for admin costs, product costs, expenses, revenues, Those kind of things you could reach out to sales and marketing who may have information about customers, sales data, even the competition and what the competition is doing, and so on. So think about other departments that might have access to two key business performance metrics that you need. Another area can be external. Networking is a great way to gather information and don't forget about people that you already know well, this could be friends, even family members, or customers that you've worked with networking. So think about finding or reaching out to organizations who have similar interests to the area that you are looking at. A lot of these types of organizations and companies offer free information that might even be the goal or the motive or mission of their business is to gather this information and provide it to others who need it. So take a look at that. You may be surprised how much information you can find out they're experts in the area as well. Reach out to hire academics, reach out to people that it is their pleasure to be able to share the information that they have and the knowledge that they have to others. Another area is industry information. To take a look at industry journals and reports. And those who have proposed similar initiatives or projects related to what you're taking a look at. This can also be on online, but ask around once you get started in your research data collection process, you may likely find that it's rather a snowball effect in that you start to ask people who can point you in the right direction. And you might find information that you didn't even know you would be able to get. So it's really just about getting started and and then see what happens, see where it goes. To avoid inefficiently gathering data, it can be overwhelming. If you get too caught up in it. There's so much information out there. So to streamline that process that you are able to efficiently get what you need. Here are some tips for gathering data. And the first one is to define a categories of information that you'll need to compare your options. Use the business objectives you selected to help guide your process. Another thing can be to make a list of specific questions that you want answered. For example, how much will it cost to replace the sales employee or how well customer satisfaction be affected by this alternative? Now, be prepared to add to your list of questions as you gather information, you may identify additional factors that could affect your alternatives. For example, let's say that you spoke with someone who inspired you to consider elements that you never would have thought of on your own. Another thing is to document as you go along, and that can be any assumptions and sources as you go. It's quite easy to uncommon to forget information soon after you gather that information. And so by keeping a list, then you will have that to refer to as needed. And it also helps to support any logic if as needed for those that ask, where did you get that information? How did you get that information? When did you get that information, et cetera. Now make sure that your estimates are realistic. Consider whether the data you find sounds correct and if not, you might want to seek additional estimates. It's helpful to gather information from multiple sources, such as from several colleagues in different departments to get the best estimate possible. And that can also strengthen the credibility and reliability of the information that you use as you apply it to the alternatives. Now, once you have gathered the data, ask for input from key stakeholders or individuals and departments that would be affected by your recommendation to make sure that you have not overlooked anything. Although brief. In part 2, we will look at how to estimate a timeframe for implementing the opportunity that you have defined given the alternatives that you are considering, as well as how long it will be until the project delivers its estimated benefits. Set a time frame, or the entire project. Now this could just be as an estimate, but you'll want to at least have a pretty good idea of how long it will take from the start to the finish in order to complete the project. So when you gather your data, consider this information because you may, what you gather is important in order for you to be able to come up with the best estimate that you can for this timeframe. So think about that. When, how soon could the project began? Could it happen right away up or when it take several months, maybe even years to begin depending on the scope of the project. In order to understand that, you'll need to make sure or understand what resources are needed in order to get started. Not only what resources are needed, but how do you get those resources? How soon can those resources be available? The cost, is there enough funding available to get started? All of those things are important in order to have an accurate idea of a reasonable start time, then you'll want to know how long it'll take to phase in that project over time. This could be within days, weeks, months, years. And then finally, don't forget the end. Would it have a clear endpoint which all of the benefits are generated? So not only completing the project, but when would those benefits of that project be realized? So these are all things that most likely the key stakeholders who you are, are proposing your business case to. They will want to know these things. You'll need to be able to support it and have your information documented. That justifies your schedule or proposed timeframe.
8. Step 4: Evaluate Options: You've gathered data and estimated timeframes for implementing each alternative. Now, you need to carefully analyze the alternatives using the data you've collected. In this lesson, we will address how to do that. A common concern is understanding how to select the best solution to the problem defined in your case. One way to narrow down the focus to make the right solution clear is to follow these six steps. The first one is to note the alternative solutions. So you want to simply just right or jot down what those solutions are. And then for each solution, quantify its benefits. Also, forecast that cost involved in each solution, and then figure out its feasibility. The fifth is to discern their risks and issues associated with each solution. And then finally, document all of this in your business case and we'll talk about each of these in more depth in this course. Executives and key decision-makers typically want to know the financial implications of each of the alternatives presented to them in the business case. This includes possible impact on revenues, return on investment, and the payback period or when it's benefits will pay for the resources invested in it. Now, in order to calculate this information, if you don't know how to do it, ask for assistance from someone who is an expert in finance or in this area to determine these financial implications. Address the budget involved in getting the job done. These can be estimated as well as exact numbers. Make sure you address and be prepared to discuss budget details either shown in written format such as in a formal report or in subsequent questions that might be asked from key stakeholders. The budget can include labor costs, and these are most typical, such as those of any consultants, contractors, and other admin labor related costs. Other administrative costs such as rent, utilities, insurance and office supplies, and then op, operating cost applicable such as the cost for advertising, sales materials, engineering, and so on. Now, address the cost associated with each resource needed. This may include a range of costs, such as those that are considered bargain, medium, and high-end price expected for each resource. Think about what kind of pricing that you or the organization will be targeting, such as bargain pricing on all materials needed? Or will you or the organization be willing to splurge on some things. Now this is also. A good place to address where you expect the funds to come from. For example, will they be raised, borrowed, gifted, or shifted from elsewhere in the company's budget. Now, you may need to address the financial impacts such as the payback period. This is how long it takes before the investment pays for itself. Also the Net Present Value or NPV. So in this case, this would be the economic value of an investment. Calculate the NPV by subtracting the cost of the investment in your proposed alternative from the present value of the investments, future earnings. Also, the return on investment or ROI, which is a financial ratio measuring the cash return from an investment relative to its cost for a stated period of time. Now, at this point in building your business case, you've estimated each of your alternatives financial ramifications, and consider their impact on any non-financial metrics that you've defined. So now document your conclusions so that they are easy to compare. Tried to turn as many conclusions as possible into specific dollar amounts. Although many organizations have possible prescribed formats for evaluating and comparing alternatives, consider creating a pro's and con's table. This is an easy way to document your thinking in one place and capture the impacts not expressed as dollars or in relative terms. Next will address the steps for analyzing your alternatives. So that includes listing the costs, the benefits, cost-savings, identifying timeframes, listing impacts on other metrics. Listing unquantifiable benefits and cost, conducting business impact analysis and then last organizing information into table format. So let's take a look at each one of these in more detail. Start by thinking about all costs applicable to each alternative. Identify the upfront cost as well as those you might expect in subsequent years. Makes sure to think beyond the obvious financial costs such as purchasing equipment are paying salaries. Consider the business objectives you choose to evaluate and how each alternative will affect them. For example, will the alternative negatively affect customer satisfaction? And if so, can you quantify it? Lists the benefits of expected additional revenues. Consider the business objectives you've chosen, and ask these questions, What benefits do you anticipate resulting from each alternative? How will these benefits affect revenues? For example, how will your project affect customer satisfaction? Can you make a correlation between improved customer satisfaction and an increase in sales? Additional revenues might come from either obtaining new customers or from increased purchases from existing customers. Consider adding any costs associated with obtaining these revenues. Point out any cost savings to be gained. Consider how implementing each alternative could save the organization money. Spend some time thinking about this area because cost savings can be difficult to recognize. They may come from a variety of resources, such as less resources needed. For example, we'll fewer people be required to do a job because of your project? Will your project reduced the time it takes to complete a task allowing for more work to be completed or more products to be manufactured. For example, identify when you expect to see the cost anticipated revenues for each alternative. Keep in mind that the cost and revenue increases will probably occur simultaneously. For example, you might expect revenues to increase by 20% in the first year, achieving a 100% increased by the end of year three. Completing this step will also help when you create your implementation plan. Lists the impacts on other corporate metrics, such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, and operational efficiency. While these kind of metrics may not be obvious, financial in the beginning, they can ultimately lead to a financial impact such as increased signals. List any unquantifiable benefits and costs. Most business cases aren't built on numbers alone. Depending on the business objectives you choose to use for your analysis, you will probably have some qualitative factors to consider as well, such as strategic fit for each alternative with your organization's mission, or an increase in community Goodwill because of a particular action. Even without numbers associated with them, these costs and benefits can be persuasive and are important to consider. Conduct your business impact analysis. How does each of your alternatives affect finances? Once you have a list of costs and benefits in half and quantified as many factors as possible. It's time to run the numbers. Depending on the metrics you have chosen, you might consider calculating the return on investment payback period or net present value. You might also consider a break-even analysis. And the last step is to organize the information into a table to compare options. Now one format to consider is the pros and cons table because it is easy to use when you have both quantifiable and unquantifiable costs and benefits.
9. Step 5: Choose the Best Option: After analyzing the data on your various alternatives, choose the one that seems to be the best, and then assess any risks associated with it. By assessing the risks, you can decide how you might mitigate them and whether you should modify your recommended course of action to reduce the risk. You'll need to select the best possible solution and justify your choice. Companies track data on how various metrics affect their overall financial performance, such as how customer satisfaction influences sales. If your company has this information and you can attach dollar figures to each of your metrics, then your selection process may be as simple as adding up all the numbers and making a comparison. However, you probably won't have all of this or may not have all of this information at hand. So you may need to come up with a strategy for making your choice. Now this is not an exact science. You may need to rely on your intuition and best judgment as well as input from others. But just make sure that you do document your rationale so you can explain it to others later and refer to it as you need, as you go through this process. Next, need to rank the solutions. But before doing that, it's best to set up a criteria, maybe have a scoring mechanism to help you prioritize the solutions to best choose the right one. So these methodologies might help, depending on the solution cost and benefit, and give it a score of one to ten. Base your score on what's important to you and add more complexity to your ranking to cover all basis regardless of your approach, once you've added up your numbers, the best solution to your problem will become evident. So when you have chosen an option, identify the potential risk before committing to it. By considering these things. The first is the implementation of your idea. Do you have the right people to accomplish the necessary tasks? Can you meet the necessary schedule with your resources? What would happen to the organization if you can not be your goals and timeline? And the next would be peers and organization. So what would happen to your peers and the organization if you don't make the numbers that you expected. For example, if your projections are built-in to your organization's metrics and our old up to the corporate commitments for the head of sales, could this person's career suffer if you don't achieve the projected gain? Are there other risks in terms of members of the sales team leaving the organization once they have higher skill levels. And then the next is you. So what are the possible career consequences if your alternative fails? For example, depending on the size of the project and the amount of resources you need, your performance rating might be affected. You could lose credibility or you could be like, oh, also consider your personal tolerance level for risk, as well as your organization's tolerance levels. And then consider how you might mitigate the risks you identified. For example, you might be considering bringing in consultants rather than utilizing employees to assist with implementation of a new process. However, hiring consultants may be more expensive and take longer to complete the task due to their limited availability or other situations. On the other hand, utilizing staff may mean depleting resources or their time spent on other matters. Deciding how you My to mitigate risk helps you refine your recommendations even further. If two of your alternatives offer roughly equal benefits, you may want to compare the risks. If your initial recommendation is too risky, you may decide to modify it or even abandon it for a different alternative. Also keep in mind that for any alternative that requires an increase in headcount or budget, your request for additional resources could be denied. Prepare another option even if it seems less desirable. Clearly define a negative impact and missed opportunities that would result if resources were not allocated toward your project. So let's take a look at the steps involved in choosing the final recommendation. So the first is to select a preliminary recommendation, review the alternatives that you have developed, and then compare and contrast their pros and cons. Consider which of your alternatives best support your organization's business objectives. Also, which of the stated objectives are most important to your organization? And then think about whether one option would be easier to implement than the others. Also, make sure to weigh any unquantifiable factors. For example, if the ROI or return on investment is similar for two alternatives, you might want to give more consideration to strategic fit when making the final decision. If you have difficulty narrowing, narrowing your choice to one option at this stage, you can keep the two best options and work from there. Consider the risks, identify the potential risks to both you and the organization of implementing your recommended choices. Consider any risks related to your career, the implementation and your projected numbers. Also consider running some sensitivity analysis to see how your numbers would change using different estimates or assumptions. Document the rationale for your decision. Once you've made your decision using your best judgment, It's important to explicitly document their rationale for that and do this as soon as possible to avoid overlooking any aspect of your decision-making process. Create a concise list of the top four to six primary reasons why you selected your option. So you will be able to explain them succinctly, succinctly and clearly to key stakeholders and decision-makers. Look for ways to mitigate risks. For example, you could start with a pilot project to test your assumptions before launching a full-scale implementation. Also consider whether you have control over the risks associated with your recommended alternatives. Revisit your original recommendation, think about the desirable outcome of your recommendation options. For example, when your departments morale increased significantly as a result. And then think about how likely the stated outcome is to occur, or how many risks did you identify and how likely is it that you can control them? Keep in mind your personal tolerance for risk and also that of your organization. If you have been considering two options and tell this point, consider which one makes the most sense. In light of these factors, it is possible that you might find that yet another option, possibly a combination of alternatives, is actually the most desirable.
10. Step 6: Conclude and Draft an Action Plan: Once you have chosen your best alternative, including managing risks and mitigating those risks, your work is not done. You still need to develop an implementation plan. And that plan should include the purpose of your project and your alternative. It should include the milestones involved, that should include communicating the progress and those milestones and any other key information to key stakeholders. It should include deliverables, including who will do what and when. And then it should also include when to expect the proposed benefits of your plan and then also of course, to track the progress of your plan. And so that's what we're going to address in this session, is what those key factors are in your implementation plan. You should prepare a preliminary project plan and consider how your project will come to fruition. First, prepare a rough draft of your project plan and that can include your goals. And you might have heard of this smart and the acronym is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely SMA ART. And then only include goals that have clear and direct connection to your problem. Another thing to include is the scope. And this can provide a bit more detail on the proposed boundaries of the projects, such as, where does it start, where does that end? What are the necessary tasks to accomplish your goals? And what wasteful tasks should we avoid or safer another project and, or business case. Another thing is to-dos and milestones. So how will the task be grouped and when will we check in with the team on the progress? Think about the phases of your project plan and what are those and what needs to be done for each of those phases. Another thing to include his communication. So any kind of communication with, for example, how are you going to communicate your plan? How are you going to update people on the progress and status? What about team members? Who are those people involved and how will you communicate with them? What might be those things in a way that you communicate such as do they what are their questions and their concerns? How will what will be the standard protocol for handling these questions and concerns? If there are meetings, when when when will they be? Where will they be? What will the meeting agendas look like knowing this in advance, then we'll make it a lot easier and streamline the process as you go forward. Another thing to consider are the deliverables. And so think about the people behind the project whose labor hours will be needed. Who are those people? How many are they? What are the dependencies of the tasks in your project? And then the other thing is deliverable. So what is the final physical product that you are hoping to create and how we'll success be measured. The next disk scheduling. So consider the, the timeline of your project. And then the last thing to consider, of course, is the budget. So what are the estimated costs? It doesn't have to be exact for now, but at least have as close to the best estimate that you can come up with. So that might include what materials are needed, what labor costs might be needed. Are you going to contract things out? People's labor hours, equipment costs, admin costs, all those kinds of things. Try to think of all the various costs that, that might be involved in this project and then put those together and list them out and and then categorize them as needed. So you have identified your business problem or opportunity and how to reach it. And now you have to convince your stakeholders that you are right and that you have the best way to implement a process to achieve your goals. That's why documentation is so important. It offers a practical path to solve the core problem that you have identified. When you put in the work to build a strong business case, you're more likely to get your sponsors and organizations and whomever your audiences on board with your plan in idea, helping them have a clear vision as to what that means, what's involved and to ensure delivery of the bin. Business benefits that they expect. Your implementation plan should show how you intend to track your progress and measure your success if the proposed solution is put into action. Many managers think of an implementation plan as a list of action items, due dates, and the people responsible for them. Decision-makers reading your business. Well, certainly want to know this information, and they will also want to know the following. The primary milestones. The individuals responsible and accountable for each milestone. The resources required to reach each milestone, dates when the company will see the benefits of your recommended course of action. Impacts on the company's expense and headcount budgets. Increases in revenue. Your plan for demonstrating that the solutions intended results happened, realized. Keep in mind that while decision-makers will want to understand each of your milestones to ensure that your project is feasible. They do not need the details of how you will accomplish each milestone. So you can begin developing your implementation plan by listing the major steps needed to carry out the solution. These major steps are your milestones and include notes about how you plan to address any risks. For example, document that you will start with a pilot training program or use a skilled negotiator in the contract phase. Now if there are any definable phases to the project considered, listing your milestone by face such as phase 12, et cetera. And then include a description of each. Depending on the nature of your proposal, you may want to establish as explicit check-in points with decision-makers about the progress of your project. And these check-in meetings usually occur after the completion, completion of a project phase. And during the meetings, the decision-makers usually will want to know where you are regarding the status of your project and then advise you on any needed mid-course actions as needed. So when you present your milestones to decision-makers, expect that they will want the project done. I would just expect it that they will want the project done much sooner than your estimated final delivery dates. So anticipate any negotiations in the process and timeframe. Be prepared with any kind of a backup plan for how you could complete the phases more quickly or develop a convincing argument. Why accelerating the project could be too risky. Now, ask yourself which resources that you'll need. At each project phase. For instance, you may need to pull and employees from various departments who have specific expertise and experience with what is required to complete the task and project, and maybe show any movement of budget dollars and headcount as a step in your project plan. Otherwise, it may be overlooked or your decision-makers may assume you will fund the project from your current budget. Many projects fail because managers fail to identify who will be responsible for delivering those plans, including getting a firm commitment from them. So it's really important in your implementation plan to identify the individuals that will be responsible for each of the task in completing the project. And that can include addressing the cost involved, the budgets, deliverables, any other expenses, time commitment, resources, and those kinds of things. It's also important to clarify the managers who might be responsible for the project. What kind of burns that they might have in completing the project. They will likely want to know who those individuals are. So they have a good understanding of what their workload, commitment costs, etc, involves. Decision-makers when they review your business case, they'll also want to know when they can expect your solution to pay off. That is to generate the proposed benefits. So to answer this question, look at your data and clearly identify the range of impacts that you expect to see during the implementation of your solution in estimating the payoff date to remember, to plan a lag between the time when the results occur and when they are recorded. Although your plan might generate the expected results during the expected period, those results may not get recorded in your company's performance management system until the following period. So it's really important to address what goes time legs are. Now it's important to track your results because the projections of your own, the projections of your implementation plan will help you sell your case to your decision-makers. They also provide benchmarks for evaluating your projects deliverables. Once it's been implemented, if you're recommended solution receives the go ahead, your organization will want you to regularly report on that project success and perhaps any shortfalls. So by keeping track of your estimated due dates, yeah, you'll be better able to understand what the actual delivery dates will be and revised as needed. And that includes perhaps the estimated benefits. And compared to the actual benefits. These will give you better measurement, metrics in order to proceed and and then help you garner the support that you need in your project throughout each of those milestones. So tracking your projects result will also help you strengthen your ability to build sound business cases and lead other projects as you go forward. So for this last session, I am going to address tips for creating your implementation plan can be helpful to create a list of steps. And that can include all of the steps that it will take in order to make your project a radar reality. Now, if you plan to present your case especially and a too high to keep minimal stake holders, most likely they won't want to receive all of the detailed information is exceptionally if it's very exhaustive and long. So I recommend just outlining or presenting the key milestones involved in your business case. Now, you might want to use generic rather than specific dates. For example, year won or six months from contract approval to get too specific in your dates before everything is approved that may not match up with what the expectations are and that can then cause some challenges going forward. Now you can certainly revise your dates as you get the approval and you go forward in the progress of your case of your project. The other thing that's important with your implementation plan is that it is realistic about the time that it will take to implement your recommendation. Managers often underestimate the time that they will need. Sometimes it can take longer. Consider the resources that you'll need for each milestone and whether they will be available for your project. For example, it is likely that someone from sales won't be available to help to help reviewing your training program. But what not what would be a backup plan? Who else could provide the help to you? Another area to include is how, how well prepared are the decision-makers and everyone involved in order to create this and put this forward. What, what information can help them. Convinced them as the reasons why it might be a risky plan to proceed or to go ahead even though it might be risky plan to proceed. The last thing is to use specific names, not just department names or position titles when assigning accountability for a task or a committed result.
11. Step 7: Checklist for Finalizing Your Plan: Before finalizing your case, it's important to make sure that your case is compelling. This session addresses key components to make sure that you address or at least consider for your business case. Does the case contain a sense of urgency? Why now? Describe an opportunity that appeals to the business or whoever your audiences. Have. You described the problem in measurable terms. Who is affected by this problem? Describe the bird created by the problem where program or whatever the plan is. Also consider what the economic implication is. The situation. Is the case linked to organizational strategy, industry standards or best practices? Projects that may be linked to the organization's existing strategy have a better chance of succeeding and projects that are not aligned bring additional credibility to linking your project to industry best practices. Is the solution clearly described and does it contain statements about the solutions benefits? It's important to use simple language without technical jargon. Your business case may be read by people who don't understand the problem. Like you do. Explain the relationship between the proposed intervention and the benefits you expect to see? Does the case include an address viable options? And these options should also include any bench-marking pros, cons, advantages and disadvantages, risks, alignments and so on. If your case is going to include any graphics or illustrations, make sure that they are easy to read, understand and interpret your simple graphs to tell the as is and proposed state, label the graphs and cite the graphs if the data was published. Does the case include a budget or explanation of project related costs? Consider the cost of people's time, materials, licenses and equipment necessary, or any other resources necessary for the project. Also consider describing the cost to sustain the program after the initial proof of concept phase. Does the case include a return on investment or ROI strategy? It should analyze returns on investment, weighing the tangible and intangible benefits against the costs. That case, address available resources. It should address allocation of capital and resources to implement. Keep in mind that every organization does have its limit on how much it can do it anytime. Even if you have a great idea, it doesn't mean that your organization is culturally or operationally ready to implement your idea. So it's important to take a pulse check before proceeding. Does the case provide justification for the proposed change or plan? Each speak very clear and well supported by the resources and any data, credible data and information that backs up whatever you are proposing. Does the case address limitations and constraints such as perhaps budgetary constraints and lack of resources. Does the case addressed the project or clans scope? When and where does it start? When and where does it end? What are the necessary tasks to accomplish the goals? What are the deliverables? Thus, the case, describe how the plan or project will be measured. Make sure that your case clearly and thoroughly addresses vital information important for your audience to understand the reasoning and purpose of your case. It should be compelling. So don't leave out any vital and important information. In the next lesson, we will talk about how to communicate your case successfully to key decision-makers.
12. Step 8: Present Your Case for Approval: You have prepared a solid business case for your project or idea. Now, it is time to take it to the final and critical step which is presented it to the key decision-makers. To get the support and approval needed. It is necessary that your case is clear and straightforward. It must be persuasive. Building a business case can take time, perhaps even more than you initially think. As a result, you may feel tempted to explain every detail of all of that work that to your decision-makers. Resist that urge in presenting your case, you want to deliver a short, a sales pitch, not a lengthy detailed lecture. Even if your business case contains rich detail. Now who will approve your proposed solution? You will need to sell your case to the decision-makers and to those who influence men. Apply these methods are first is to clarify your action request. Clearly state what you want to each individual, your message targets. This could be getting their approval or asking them to propose your case to others. Clearly state your need. Next, emphasize what your audience most cares about and is interested in. Perhaps they care about return on investment or customer satisfaction or some other measure of business performance. Now, tailor your pitch to highlight the expected results and metrics that are most important to each key decision-maker. Articulate what they stand to gain and explains how your audience will benefit if your ideas are implemented. For example, perhaps the vice president of sales will get his staff up to speed more quickly or exceeds sales targets. If your recommendation is put into action, address the risk. Demonstrate that you have considered the risks inherent in your proposed course of action and explain your plan for mitigating them. And last, communicate your message using the best channel and medium. Find out how your audience prefers to receive information and then give them what they want. For example, what does your audience or your company required for Britain business case? In terms of format and level of detail. Do the decision-makers want cases summarized in three slides or a two or maybe five page, single-spaced document. Will they receive an in-person in a one-on-one setting, perhaps in formally or informally, as a formal presentation to a group or in a recorded video format, virtually in a live video format by e-mail, phone, or by some other means, or perhaps a combination of methods. Check if your company requires a certain layout and format to internal and external communications. Maybe even specifically for business cases. Even if your company only requires a written document for each business case. Consider also creating a visual presentation to help sell your idea when created effectively, well, don't slide presentations help focus your audience's attention. Keep slides to a minimum. Many slides can be overwhelming to your audience. Use no more than seven slides in general to make the case. Whatever visuals you use, they should support and help clarify the key steps to follow to build your business case. If you're going to be showing any kind of visuals when you present your case. Of course, it depends on who your audience is and the factors and situations and what, and how you communicate those visuals. But the following might give you some ideas of what that may look like and what should be the key topics that you will address. The first one is your opportunity statement, which is essentially the purpose of your business case. The next thing could be the options. Talk about two or four of the options that you considered, as well as the business objectives and performance metrics that you chose to measure for those options also addressed a summary of the costs and benefits. The other could be your initial recommendation and why you chose it. You could address the risks describing them associated with your recommendation and how you plan to mitigate them. Addressed the expected milestones. And this would be the high-level milestones you expect to achieve and dates when the organization will realize those benefits. Occluding those accountable for each of the milestones and resources needed to achieve them. But trust the benefits, which might be a reiteration of why the opportunity is important and how your recommendation will benefit the organization and impact on business results. Avoid getting too detailed. You might not want to include a lot of formulas and calculations, but have a backup plan. Maybe those details that you can show just in case. It's better to have very minimal information on each slide that you can then explained orally. Make sure that your visuals really pop or stand out. And that can include considering what might be the best way at presenting them. You may need to present your case in video format. Perhaps you record a video of yourself presenting your case. Maybe as a brief summary in less than 30 seconds that highlights what the case is. Or perhaps longer, maybe five minutes to 30 minutes. You may and most likely will present your case face to face to one or more people. Your presentation should target your audience. Be prepared to address audience questions. Have a plan for how you address all questions, even ones that you might not know the answer to. You may want to present your case as an infographic or share on social media. I'm not sure if that would be the best way of doing that, but just things to keep in mind that there are a variety of different ways of communicating your information. And most likely you are going to use more than one for any presentation late with neat by emphasizing the key priorities and keep benefits of your case. And then focus your communication on that. Be slightly include any risks involved and how those would be mitigated. And the cost and budget and deliverables and people responsible. And don't forget to emphasize the purpose. Case and how the audience will benefit from that. Anticipate any objections, Any challenges, and any questions that might come up. You have collected a lot of information including data back sheets, possible studies and interviews, and so on. And now you are putting it together in a presentation format. If you are putting it together and written format, Here's important things, important things to keep in mind. The first is format. As stated before, make sure you understand any specific communication for many requirements and this applies to written formats as well. Your report should address the steps involved in carrying out your business case. Two, well, target your audience for any message and delivery Type. Know how they will want to receive your message. Know their key triggers. What's important to them, such as whether they want to know about a return on investment or customer satisfaction and those kinds of things. If you touch on those hot points, what is interesting to them, your audience, then they will more likely read and listen to your message. It is also important to be concise. It's a busy world out there and no one wants to waste their time focusing on information that doesn't apply to them or their interests. No one wants to hear information that does not apply to that as well. So don't add a lot of extra words, extra fluff and information that doesn't support and add value to your message. Your language should not only be concise, but also clear and descriptive. You don't want to be too vague that it's not understandable resulting in questions that come up because you didn't have enough information. Also verified, refer to any sources of political, including facts and figures that support your case. Case must emphasize the value it brings to the organization and audience. Keep in mind also that message needs to persuade your audience into some kind of action such as approval and supportive. Your case. Focused on the benefits, not being too pushy, trying to sell your case. People usually like to come to their own conclusions because they thought that that was from their own freewill to do this, not because someone told them that it was a requirement for them to do that, to convey that, then it's best to be as authentic as possible. Be yourself, be true, be realistic, and don't cry. It tried to go over too much blood and to be someone who you are not. So overall, consider what might be the best delivery method, including time, day, scheduling, the best target your audience. If you would like to learn more about how to develop public speaking skills, I recommend the book titled, you've got this, everything you need to master authentic public speaking. The book provides the tools necessary to deliver a strong speech.
Lisa Kleiman, Public Speaking Coach
